The skies over Aurethiel were no longer silent.
Three weeks after the Foldgate sealed, and two since the last city joined the Sovereign Accord, something new bloomed above the world—a pulse in the clouds, like veins of light threading through the firmament.
It began as a shimmer, seen only by mages and seers. Then it roared.
[Global Phenomenon Detected: Skyfall Event | Category: Unclassified | Origin: Unknown | Forecast Trajectory: Global Arc Zenith]
Kael stood at the Aurethiel Skydeck, surrounded by engineers and scryers.
Lira stared through her lens. "It's not natural. And it's not from the Vault. This is... foreign."
Elandriel's wings flickered. "I've never seen light behave like that. It's refracting reality."
Arkaia walked to the edge. Her eyes glowed faintly. "It's singing. But not to us."
Kael narrowed his gaze. "Then who?"
The Skyfall Choir
Across the Accord, as night fell, the skies responded.
Children heard voices in their sleep—tones of beauty and sorrow. Leviathans in the deep grew restless, their coils tightening around abyssal ruins. Fold zones destabilized slightly, as if tuning themselves to a higher frequency.
And then—it landed.
In the eastern deserts of the old Velathi Empire, a fragment of the sky crashed like a star. But when scouts arrived, they found no crater.
Only a temple. Built overnight. Etched with symbols unknown to any script. Singing.
Expedition to the Temple
Kael led the strike team personally: Lira, Zar, Elandriel, and a new addition—Professor Eljin Meros, a scholar of pre-divine civilizations.
As they entered the desert, the winds whispered secrets, and the air bent around Arkaia, keeping her at its center.
When they reached the temple, it pulsed. Not a threat. Not a trap. An invitation.
Eljin traced a sigil. "This is language... but it's from no world we've seen. It predates even Nullus."
Lira whispered, "Then it comes from the Forgotten Sky."
Kael placed his hand on the gate.
[Access Request: Skybound Signature Detected | Status: Compatible | Opening Protocols...]
The gates parted.
The Sky Archive
Inside, the walls floated—yes, floated—in concentric rings of crystal and thought. The temple was a living memory, not just of a people, but of a possibility.
Projected in the center stood six figures—tall, robed in astral flame. They did not speak with words. They sang. And the song became understanding.
[Archive Identified: Echo Council | Race: Extinct | Role: Memory Guardians | Origin: Upper Aeon Fold | Message: Warning / Beacon / Selection]
Their message:
"The sky fell once before. We sealed it with song. Now it stirs again. And it remembers us too late."
Kael felt the weight of it—not just prophecy, but history repeating. The Skyfall wasn't an accident. It was a recall.
A memory... reaching backward.
The Chosen Note
Among the team, only Arkaia could step into the song fully. She danced among the echoes, unlocking verses embedded in air. Each tone she touched turned to light. To code. To future.
One by one, the Echo Council vanished.
Leaving her with a final gift:
A note. Not a weapon. A tone. A seed of resonance.
[Arkaia Trait Evolved: Harmonic Anchor – Can now manipulate highfold frequencies / Sing into locked timelines / Stabilize collapsing dimensions]
Kael watched her emerge, tears streaking her cheeks.
"I remember them now," she said. "Not because I was made to. Because I choose to."
New Threats Stir
As they left the temple, seismic tremors rippled through the east. The Ashen Compact's ruins shimmered—Lady Calethra's cult began receiving visions. The Whispered Crown pulsed stronger.
And far beyond even the Vault's edge, something darker cracked open:
The Skygrave—a realm once buried beneath aeons of silence—woke.
[New Global Threat Detected: The Skygrave Titans | Classification: World-Ender | Status: Dormant / Stirring]
Kael stood upon a dune, wind roaring around him. He spoke not to the storm, but through it:
"If the sky is falling again... then this time, we fly to meet it."
The Unseen Harbinger
Unbeknownst to the team, far in the frozen reaches of Myrskar—the edge of the world—a shard of the Sky Archive bloomed beneath the ice. It pulsed in rhythm with Arkaia's note.
Creatures long dormant stirred. A single being rose—cloaked in frost, wearing a crown of silence.
[Uncatalogued Entity Detected: Harbinger of the Forgotten Sky | Status: Passive | Objective: Unknown]
It looked upward. And began to walk.
The Accord Responds
In Aurethiel, the Accord convened once more.
Reports from the east confirmed the temple was stabilizing. But more fragments might fall. Kael placed his hand on the global projection table.
"We build not just borders now. We build bridges. Between sky and soul. Between what was and what might be."
Elandriel added, "The heavens once ruled us. Now they reach to us. We must answer with unity, not fear."
A vote was cast. A skybound council was formed. Their mission: prepare for the Echo's Return.
[Accord Update: Skyfall Initiative Launched | Members: 9/13 Cities Active | Resources Allocated: 19%]
The First Resonance
That night, atop the Throne Spire, Kael sat with Arkaia under the glowing sky. She hummed the note the Echo Council left her.
The air shimmered.
For a moment, the stars aligned. And above them, briefly, a new constellation blinked into being:
Six stars, forming a spiral. The Echo's Mark.
Kael placed his hand over his chest. Not in fear. In promise.
"We'll remember the sky that was. But more importantly, we'll build the sky to come."
[End of Chapter 26 – Arc III Begins] [Next: Chapter 27 – Skyborne Oath]